High-tech hackers using spyware are costing US discount brokerages millions of dollars in repayments to clients who have been victimised by fraud, the brokerages have revealed.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission notified earlier this month that scammers were hijacking online brokerage accounts, using spyware and operating from remote locations.

The incident happened over Labor Day weekend, and it is possible that the hackers accessed names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of about 230,000 patients and their families, as well as a database containing the bank-account information of about 12,000 donors.

Denver law-enforcement officials are warning people who use file-sharing software, principally LimeWire, to be very cautious for a computer security breach that could put their personal data into the wrong hands.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) is advising its members that under U.S. law, government agents may confiscate and search a person´s laptop computer, computer discs, and other electronic media when that person arrives in the U.S. from abroad or departs from the U.S for a foreign country,” we knew from an official communication by the ACTE Executive Director, Susan Gurley.

Richmond based First Market Bank is warning hundreds of its customers that their accounts may have been compromised. The security breach affects roughly one-percent of First Market Bank customers.

The majority of higher education managers experienced at least one information technology security incident last year and one-third reported a data loss or theft.